After a disappointing three-game stretch to start the week, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers rectified the woeful start with a dramatic, walk-off victory Friday night, defeating the Hudson Valley Renegades 3-2. Mahoning Valley starting pitcher Caleb Hamrick threw well, and defensive miscues continued to be an area of weakness for the Scrappers. But clutch hitting can be the difference maker for a team, and that was the case Friday night.

Well, after a dreadful stretch of 12 straight losses essentially ruined their season, the Scrappers have come back with a vengeance. In 20 games since the streak, the Scrappers have managed to put together a 13-7 record and a 5-5 record since the last Scrapperbook. Join Hayden Grove as he breaks down the last two weeks for the Scrappers and highlights the ups and downs coming out of Mahoning Valley.

There are just four weekends left in the minor league season, and with that in mind Tony takes stock in the players in the Indians farm system at Lake County, Mahoning Valley and Arizona to let us know who is increasing/decreasing their prospect value. He reviews several players including Eric Haase, Jeremy Lucas, Joe Sever, Dace Kime, Cole Sulser, Luis Lugo, Clint Frazier, D'Vone McClure, Sean Brady and many more.

After yet another depressing loss at the major league level, why not take some time to focus on the happiness and promise of the minor leagues? Why not bask in the insane success of Trevor Frank in the Mahoning Valley bullpen or the way that a finally healthy Alex Monsalve is producing at Akron? Leave all your Tiger trouble behind and join Jim Piascik as he recaps all you need to know about Wednesday night in the minor leagues and goes Around The Farm.

“A star is born” is a clichè used in every sport. Often, it refers to a phenom, born with extraordinary talent in a given field, who has finally made the big time. Very rarely do you hear the words, “a star is built”. That is, unless you find yourself in the Mahoning Valley Scrappers clubhouse and bear witness to the emerging talent that is Nellie Rodriguez.

In today's new edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the hot play of Mahoning Valley first baseman Nellie Rodriguez and looks at his value and the strides he has made. He also provides a ton of comments from the front office on players at rookie level Arizona such as Kieran Lovegrove, Mitch Brown, Anderson Polanco, Gerald Bautista, D’Vone McClure and many more, and also provides some insight from the front office on the promotion process.

For the second consecutive night, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers scored first and were able to withstand a push by the Connecticut Tigers, ultimately hanging on for a 6-3 victory. Matt Whitehouse, who has been nothing short of brilliant in 2013, pitched six sound innings to earn his fourth victory of the year.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers continued their winning ways on Friday, inching out a 4-3 victory in 13 innings over the Connecticut Tigers. With the win, the Scrappers have now won 12 of their last 15 games.

ABERDEEN, MD- The news of Juan Herrera’s imminent departure from the Scrappers was a tough pill to swallow, but not tough enough to keep Mahoning Valley from continuing their winning ways and beating the Aberdeen Ironbirds 3-1.

The end of the minor league season is now in sight as it is just five weeks away, and in today’s week opening edition of Minor Happenings the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at the dominating performance of Danny Salazar and how good he is and how the Indians are using him. He also explains the minor league promotion process with why some guys are not promoted when they may be playing well, and also provide lots of news and insights into players like Juan Diaz, Kyle Bellows, Tyler Naquin, LeVon Washington, Ben Heller, Casey Shane and more.

What a strong month it has been for short season Single-A Mahoning Valley's Nellie Rodriguez who has turned his season around after a disappointing campaign the first two months of the year with Low-A Lake County. The IBI's Michael Hattery recaps the big night from Rodriguez, Clint Frazier, Joey Wendle and many others in another edition of Around the Farm...

Five errors by the Williamsport CrossCutters in the final two innings of Sunday afternoon’s game gave the Scrappers men on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. With the Scrappers down 6-5, Nellie Rodriguez worked the count full with a chance to deliver... and he did.

Coming off of their sweep of the State College Spikes, the Scrappers spirits were high coming into their battle with the Batavia Muckdogs. Unfortunately, those well-feelings didn’t last long as the Batavia ballclub thrashed the Scrappers by a final score of 10-3 on Friday night.

Since the last edition of the Scrapperbook was published, things have been very rocky for the boys of summer in Niles, Ohio. They went on to lose 12 games in a row, but have since battled back to win seven of their last nine games. The IBI's Hayden Grove gets us all caught up on things happening down in The Valley in his latest "Scrapperbook".

We all know Francisco Lindor is an elite player, but watching his video game numbers pile up upon his promotion to Double-A is an entirely new level of dominance. Lindor did show his human side a little bit Thursday -- striking out for the first time -- but he more than made up for it in power. To read about Lindor's night, a Mahoning Valley infielder showing he can hit, and much more, join Jim Piascik as he takes you Around The Farm.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!